NA TURE 



397 



THURSDAY, MARCH 21, 1878 



EASTERN EXCAVATIONS 



Mycena:. A Narrative of Researches and Discoveries at 

 MycencB and Tiryns. By Dr. Henry Schliemann. 

 (London : Murray, 1878.) 



Troy and its Remains. A Narrative of Researches and 

 Discoveries made on the Site of Ilitim and the Trojan 

 Plain. By Dr. Henry Schliemann. (London : Murray, 

 1875.) 



Exhibition of Antiquities from Hissarlik at the South 

 Kemington AInseum. By Dr. Henry Schliemann. 



Cyprus: its Ancient Cities^ Tombs, atid Temples. A Nar- 

 rative of Researches and Excavations. By General 

 Louis Palma di Cesnola. (London : Murray, 1877.) 



TWO Eastern questions occupy the attention of 

 Europe at the present time — one relating to the 

 present, and, it is to be feared greatly, to the future ; the 

 other has reference to the past, and to the bridging over 

 of that little-known protohistoric period which connects 

 the civilisation of the far east, that is, Egypt and Assyria, 

 with the culture of ancient Greece, to which we western 

 Europeans are so much indebted. Different conditions 

 of thought are engaged in the study of these two ques- 

 tions, yet both are connected, for the present crisis in the 

 East represents the returning current of that same stream 

 of culture which was flowing westward towards the dawn 

 of our era. What Egypt and Assyria lent to Greece she 

 passed on to Etruria and Rome, and the Romans carried 

 to the shores of the Atlantic, there developing and fructify- 

 ing, it has passed back eastward in a return wave, reviving 

 the ancient monarchies in its path. Rome has regained 

 its ancient landmarks. Germany has consohdated. 

 Austria has been pushed, and is still pushing eastward. 

 Greece is proclaiming the revival of its ancient nation- 

 ality, and this will doubtless be followed in times to come 

 by the resuscitation of Egypt and Palestine. The Turk, 

 representing the last wave of the western flow, has been 

 met and swamped by the returning ebb. 



The time has been well chosen by our archaeologists 

 for an examination into the sites of those ancient cities 

 whose history corresponds most closely to the period on 

 which we are now entering ; and to us EngHsh the 

 parallel between the two eras has special interest. At a 

 time when our fleets are massing in these seas in order to 

 keep open our communication with the East, we are 

 reminded that it was by means of a seafaring people that 

 civilisation was spread over this region in ancient times. 

 The comparison between ourselves and the Phoeni- 

 cians has been often drawn ; like causes produce like 

 results. For the same reason that they peopled the 

 shores and islands of the Mediterranean with their 

 colonies, we have caused them to be studded with our 

 military posts. What the Phoenicians did for the flow of 

 civilisation in days of old, we, if we fulfil our functions 

 rightly, shall do for its returning ebb at the present time. 

 Other European nations are concerned in continental 

 movements, but, like the Phoenicians, our path is by the 

 sea. Syria, Cyprus, Crete, and Greece was the line 

 they traversed, and this is the line which sooner or later 

 we appear destined to occupy'in the struggle to come. 

 Vol. XVI I. — No. 438 



It is not well to carry a simile too far, but one olhtr 

 parallel, as a natural outcome of the instincts of the two 

 people, may be fairly drawn. It is said that in art, in 

 modern times at least, we have no style of our own. 

 Neither had they ; devoted to navigation and commerce, 

 their art, instead of being indigenous, was borrowed from 

 the nations with whom they traded. This is well shown 

 in the collection of antiquities from Cyprus, for the know- 

 ledge of which we are indebted to General di Cesnola, 

 the American consul in that island. Cyprus was one of 

 the first islands colonised by the Phoenicians. Three 

 distinct styles of art are recognised in the Cypriote 

 pottery, sculptures and glyptic representations, the 

 Assyrian, the Egyptian, and the Greek. In the temple 

 of Golgoi the objects belonging to these three different 

 styles were found separately placed, the Egyptian by 

 themselves, the Assyrian in like manner, and the Greek 

 also together, showing in the opinion of the author that 

 they were collected at different epochs, spreading over a 

 long series of years. On the other hand a considerable 

 number of the objects figured in General Cesnola's book 

 distinctly include both the Assyrian and the Egyptian, 

 for example, in the patera from Curium, figured in p. 329 ; 

 the centre figure represents a winged warrior, probably a 

 king, fighting with a lion, which is in true Assyrian style, 

 whilst the outer circle of the same vessel is ornamented 

 with figures that are as purely Egyptian. Probably 

 between the eighth and tenth centuries B.C. both styles 

 may have prevailed in Cyprus at different times, but it 

 is evident that a period arose in which both styles as well 

 as the Greek were united, and closely imitated, and this 

 constitutes the chief characteristic of the Cypriote art. 



Very different in this respect are some of the objects 

 discovered by Dr. Schliemann in the royal tombs at 

 Mycenae, which, though rude and barbarous — more so, 

 indeed, than the majority of the Cypriote antiquities — 

 nevertheless show some attempt at realism. More 

 especially may be noticed the bull's head, the bas reliefs, 

 and some of the gold ornaments. In these we perceive 

 an absence of that servile imitation of earlier styles 

 which has been noticed as the characteristic of Cypriote 

 art ; and although falling far short of Hellenic greatness, 

 there is a freedom from conventionality which left the 

 artist at liberty to turn to nature as his instructor, and 

 thus, with the aid of a little imagination, we may perhaps 

 recognise potentially in these rude designs the germs of 

 those qualities which made Greek art so famous in the 

 times that followed. 



The concentric circles of the Cypriote ornamentation 

 are here replaced by a system of coil ornaments which 

 resemble those in use during the bronze age of Europe 

 rather than anything to be found in the countries im- 

 mediately to the eastward. Notwithstanding this, how- 

 ever, the connection with Cyprus is apparent in many 

 of the forms. The rude terra-cotta figures of men 

 and animals correspond very closely with those found 

 in Cyprus as well as Rhodes, and the long-nosed war- 

 riors drawn on the fragment of a painted vase (p. 133, 

 " Mycenas ") might clearly claim family relationship 

 with the lady figured on the Cypriote vase in Fig. 394 

 of General Cesnola's work. The mode of ornamenting 

 the eyebrows by means of parallel incised lines is dis- 

 tinctly Cyprio'e. But perhaps the objects which most 



